Forage harvesters are used for harvesting whole plants or their parts which are picked up from a field by means of a harvester head, pressed together by means of pressing rollers and led to a cutter drum, whose chopping cutters comminute the plants in cooperation with an opposing cutter. Then the comminuted plants or parts are optionally supplied to a conditioning unit and conveyed by an acceleration unit into an ejection chute that loads them onto a transport vehicle. The comminuted plants generally are used as animal feed or for generating biogas.
The conditioning unit generally comprises two or more rollers driven in opposite directions that are pre-stressed against one another by spring force and between which the chopped material is fed. It is required for corn harvesting to beat the kernels contained in the chopped material and improve the digestibility of the feed. Conditioning is not required for grass harvesting, on the other hand, for which reason the rollers of the conditioning unit are either brought into a position in which a sufficiently large gap remains between them, or the conditioning unit is pivoted out of the channel between the chopper drum and the accelerator and a hollow shell is inserted in its place.
Such a forage harvester is disclosed in DE 42 15 696 A1, which is considered class-forming. The conditioning unit is mounted there on a pivot arm, which also supports the hollow shell. The pivot axis of the pivot arm is located above the housing of the accelerator and slightly to the rear of the axis of rotation of the accelerator with respect to the forward direction of the forage harvester. In the non-operating position, the conditioning unit is behind the channel, rising upward toward the rear, between the chopping drum and the accelerator.
In DE 42 15 696 A1, the conditioning unit is moved between its operating position and its non-operating position only about the pivot axis of the pivot arm. In its non-operating position, it projects relatively far backward and upward into the area behind the accelerator and thus requires a considerable space.
The problem underlying the invention is to improve a forage harvester in the sense that the conditioning unit is brought into a space-saving position in its non-operating position.